[2025] A classic song themed around summer festivals. A song of summer memories.
When you think of summer, it’s the season of summer festivals and fireworks.
Hearing the festival music brings back happy memories, and those who love festivals might feel their excitement bubbling up.
In this article, we’ll introduce songs themed around summer festivals and fireworks, as well as tunes that capture summer memories.
From lively, boisterous tracks that embody the fun of festivals to beautiful, fleeting songs about a bittersweet summer romance, these recommendations are full of summer vibes.
If you’re looking for festival songs or summer-themed tracks, or want to listen to songs about summer festivals, be sure to check them out!
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[2025] Masterpieces with a Summer Festival Theme: Songs of Summer Memories (91–100)
fireworksHanako Oku
This is “Hanabi” by the hugely popular singer-songwriter Hanako Oku, who has worked on numerous commercial jingles and movie theme songs.
The track is included on her indie-era debut single and became popular among fans.
The lyrics, which express feelings for someone she fell for on a summer day, are achingly bittersweet and beautiful.
summer festivalYutaka Ozaki
It brings back the excitement I used to feel before heading to summer festivals as a child.
It’s a song performed by the legendary musician Yutaka Ozaki, who blazed through the J-pop scene of the ’80s and ’90s.
It was included on the 1998 album “A 14-Year-Old’s Map.” The song was originally by Yosui Inoue, and this is a cover version.
Listening to it, you can feel the air of a summer night slip gently into your chest.
It’s a feeling we somehow forgot as we grew up.
I Can Hear the Festival MusicGeorge Yanagi & Rainy Wood
From the title alone, it might be hard to imagine for those who don’t know it, but this is a very moody piece.
It’s a song by the band George Yanagi & Rainy Wood, released in 1977 as their debut single.
It became a hit after being chosen as the theme song for a drama of the same name.
It expresses a man’s feelings—“As long as I have you, that’s all I need…”—and really resonates.
The work has a relaxed atmosphere, like quietly watching the lively scenes of a festival from afar.
summer festivalMikiko Suzuki's
By treasuring the lingering afterglow once an event ends and taking time to look back on the recent memories, those memories become deeply engraved in your heart.
This song seems to directly express that lingering feeling after a summer festival—the unstable mix of joy and wistfulness.
The vocals, imbued with a sense of suffering, are striking and strongly convey the bittersweet sorrow associated with endings.
Even with its relaxed tempo, the fiercely ringing guitars and other elements seem to portray a restless, unsettled heart in various ways.
Hanabigatari#BABABABANBI
It’s a light, breezy song that portrays the resolve to finally confess long-held feelings, sparked by a summer festival.
The scenes of the festival and the shifting emotions are depicted in detail, making it easy to imagine the story.
The sound, which seems to incorporate festival music motifs, is also striking and enhances the sense of excitement.
It also shows emotions gradually becoming impossible to suppress, clearly conveying the swelling feelings and the firming of one’s resolve.
Eisa NightRimi Natsukawa
Rimi Natsukawa, a singer from Ishigaki City in Okinawa Prefecture, had a huge hit with Nada Sousou released in 2001.
Her song Eisa no Yoru, as the title suggests, is themed around Eisa.
Its lyrics are full of poetic expressions that conjure up lively scenes just by listening—truly captivating! Compared to traditional Okinawan folk songs, it’s relatively new, but I hear it’s now being used more often in Eisa performances.
It really conveys the festive atmosphere, so please give it a listen.
NebutaTakashi Hosokawa
Takashi Hosokawa’s “Nebuta” is a song about the Aomori Nebuta Festival, one of Japan’s most iconic festivals.
Released as a single in 2011, it was also performed at that year’s 62nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen.
The song captures the festival’s heat and dynamism and even incorporates its distinctive calls.
Hosokawa’s characteristically powerful vocals resonate with the strength of the festival’s main attraction—the nebuta floats.
If you’re visiting the Aomori Nebuta Festival, be sure to give “Nebuta” a listen!